Frequently asked questions
The Neighbourhood Awards are a yearly award scheme. The ceremony is held every September at the Federation's Annual Conference at Birmingham's ICC. The Neighbourhood Awards allow housing associations and other invited guests to celebrate the sector at its best. In an effort to make them bigger and better we have made some changes.
Entering
Q. Who is eligible to enter the awards?
A. Entry is for full members of the Federation. Entrants are not required to have signed up for iN business for neighbourhoods. Entry is online only at www.neighbourhoodawards.org.uk except the What We Are Proud Of category, which is administered by your Federation regional office click here.
Q. Can I enter the same project or scheme into different categories?
A. As long as you fully answer the relevant criteria questions you are able to submit the same scheme.
Q.Can ALMOs (Arms Length Management Organisations) enter?
A. ALMOs do not currently have full membership to the National Housing Federation and only full members of the National Housing Federation can enter the National Neighbourhood Awards. However, ALMOs may be entered into the Partnership Award by a full Federation member
Q. Are we able to submit one award entry per subsidiary or only one
A. You are permitted to submit one entry per part of your organisation which is
a full member of the Federation (usually this would be the parent group and its subsidiaries). For example, Orbit South Housing Association can submit six entries and Orbit Housing Group can submit six entries
Q. Do I need to have my tenants' consent to enter them into the Best
A. Although formal consent is not required, it is impossible to know an individual's personal circumstances. We would advise you to check with any tenants who you are nominating for an individual award.
Q. Am I permitted to submit a video for supplementary information?
A. Unfortunately, as many of our tenant judges judge on their home computers they will not be able to view videos. However, if you are a shortlisted organisation we may be able to utilise it as part of the footage on the night, giving you even further exposure.
Q. Do I need permission from any organisation I am nominating for the
A. Yes, you should obtain permission from the partner(s) before entering. You should specify the partnership clearly in your submission and provide information about the organisations that you are nominating.
Q. Why do we not give more time to submit entries?
A. We would like to give housing associations more time to submit their entries. However, the judging can be time consuming and we need to ensure that there is time to adjudicate any ties and, of course, to publicise the shortlists before the ceremony in September
What We Are Proud Of
Q. Can I enter the What We Are Proud Of award online?
A. No, this is the only category where entries are not via the awards website. This is because this award is linked to a series of one day events, some of which are being held after the other online entries close.
Judging is also slightly different for the What We Are Proud Of category.
In each region, an independent judging panel will shortlist three projects and a board member or tenant from these organisations will be invited to give presentations at an event.
Each event will culminate in a vote by delegates to select, for each region, the project or initiative of which we are most proud.
The winner in each region will go forward to the national What We Are Proud Of winner. This is then judged by our panel judges. This gives housing associations the opportunity to be a regional winner and a national winner. Entries need to be submitted directly to the region contact. See the What We Are Prud Of page
Q. Do I have to attend if I do not get selected to give a presentation at the
A. No, you do not have to attend but it is a good opportunity to meet with fellow colleagues and see what other housing associations are doing in your area.
Judging
Q. Who can be a tenant judge?
A. Any house association resident or board member who is willing to give up some time to judge the entries online. They will need access to a computer and an email account.
Q. What do tenant judges need include in the supporting statement
Tenant judges should include Information on what their interests and expertise are. We do our best to try to assign tenant judges to the category that they would be most interested in judging
Contact
Q. I have other questions not covered here?
If this hasn't answered your questions please fill in an online equiry form or Email: awards@housing.org.uk
